And yet his tales of lovers
whispering sweet nothings between calls to prayer sold millions in the
1980s and proved a huge hit among young women from Bangladesh's rural,
conservative heartland.

Now his work is
undergoing something of a renaissance as Bangladesh slides from the
moderate Islam worshipped for generations to a more conservative
interpretation of the religion.

*''Girls wrote me love letters with ink dipped in their own blood. Some were desperate to marry me,'' Abubakar said, recounting his surprise at young women making a traditional gesture of intense devoution to a greying author*.

His debut novel, FutontoGolap *The Blossomed Rose* , written more than decades ago , has spawned an entire genre of fiction ringed with Islamic values.

Abubakar
was inspired to take up the pen in the late 1970s, when as a bookseller
he lamented that most novels obsessed with the cosmopolitan lifestyles
of modern, elite Bangladeshis.

These secular tales were a world removed from the largely rural and pious village existence lived by the majority of Bangladesh's 160 million people, and Abubakar sensed a gap in the market ripe for his fiction.

He tapped into a new readership that nobody thought existed before,'' said Bangladeshi journalist QadaruddinShishr.

'' In villages, Abubakr's novels are the best gift a young lover can give to his fiancee.''

Abubakar
wrote the The Blossomed Rose a story about two very
mismatched young Muslims seeking consent for marriage from their
families -by hand in 1978, but it took almost a decade for a publisher
to even look at it.

''They told me that mullah novels.'' don't sell,'' he said.

Eventually he sold the copyright for mere 1,000 Taka {12.50 dollars and became an overnight sensation.

*Since his breakthrough, Abubakar has written dozen of works most around the mosque, veiled women and wayward youth abandoning so-called corrupt lifestyles after finding religion*.

Secular
activists fear creeping conservatism could unwind many of the gains
made by impoverished nation in improving school attendance and gender
equality.

An ever increasing number of students attend madressahs in Bangladesh, where Abubakar's books have ''become a favourite,'' said fellow author SyedMazharulParvez.

''They can relate to these stories and are comfortable with the settings and language their protagonists speak,'' he said.

Abubakar
has inspired a new generation of Bangladeshi writers who are finding
success with their own contemporary brand of Islamic fiction.

Popular writers like AbdusSalamMitul, Kawser Ahmed and Abdul AlimecohedAbubakar in their tales of ''piety'', conservative attitudes and decency'' and Abubakar's son Mohammad Saifullah a Ghaks based publisher.

Mitul shot to fame in the 2000s with his own story about a burqa-clad girl reminiscent of Abubakar's breakthrough The Blossomed Rose.

''I think a lot of people still think it was written by mu father. But it was Mitul's work and it sold tens of thousands of copies,''Saifullah joked;

Aspiring author Abdul Alim said Abubakar's works had motivated his own plotlines -moral tales that in the end showed ''Islam had the answers'' for society's ills.

""He's such a talented storyteller. He showed us the way,'' Alim said of Abubakar.

For Abubakar
his fans keep him busy even two years into retirement. At a bookstore
recently the octogenarian signed autographs for his readers, many women
in full face-veils clutching his titles.

The fan mail keeps his postman busy, too. Apart from the marriage proposals and overtures of love, Abubakar has received confessions, from corrupt bureaucrats thanking him for steering them down the honest path,he said.

''Everyday the postman would arrive and hundred's of letters. He became a permanent member of our family, Abubakar said.

With respectful and loving dedication to great childhood and personal Bangladeshi friends, and in many cases, when they have passed away, to their very fond memories: